


The Luckiest Boy in the World

by PinkPandorafrog



Series: Advent Calendar 2020 [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Kidfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27935889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkPandorafrog/pseuds/PinkPandorafrog
Summary: Not having Santa Claus meant coming up with new traditions.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Clint Barton/Darcy Lewis
Series: Advent Calendar 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035660
Comments: 9
Kudos: 91





	The Luckiest Boy in the World

**Author's Note:**

> December 7's prompt is hot chocolate.

After everything he’d been through, Bucky had a thing about lying. Not that Darcy could blame him. And as well-meaning as Santa Claus was, he was still a lie. Bucky had tried, but on Steven’s first Christmas he’d shame-facedly told his partners he just couldn’t.

They were both totally fine with it. Darcy had taken it as a challenge to come up with new traditions for them to share, and the Christmas Eve ones seemed to be a hit. Even now Steven was dancing around the middle of the living room, looking at her beseechingly.

“Come on, Mama!” he insisted. “We need to go make hot chocolate before Daddy gets down here. Or we’ll be in trouble!”

Clint walked into the room just in time to hear that. “I dunno, buddy,” he said with a smirk. “Mama likes being in trouble.” He’d taken Lucky outside, and he still carried some of the chill from the winter air. Lucky trotted past him and immediately came to hop up on the couch beside Darcy. He put his head on her knee and sighed.

That was enough to make Steven stop dancing. He stared at Darcy, his expression the picture of terrified wonder. “You do? Why?”

Darcy gave Clint a flat look before turning her attention to stroking Lucky’s soft ears. He’d brought it up, he was going to have to explain it away.

“I’m just kidding. Let’s go make some hot chocolate. Your mom’s been working hard all day.” Clint motioned to the kitchen with his head.

She had. She’d been getting all the meal prep done for tomorrow because she only had the one oven to work with. In addition to the normal super soldier and high metabolism athlete she usually fed, Steve and Jane were planning on coming over, and probably Thor too. Even with as good of a size as her kitchen was, that was a lot of food.

And cleaning. Bucky and Clint were good about doing their fair share, and even Steven had been put to work, but she felt like she’d been on her feet all day. Clutter and debris seemed to collect in the old farmhouse like there was a portal from another dimension.

“Okay!” Steven skipped toward the kitchen, followed by Clint at a more sedate pace.

Darcy sat back and surveyed the room as she stroked Lucky’s head. It looked pretty good. The tree - a real one, cut down from the back woods - stood in front of the large bay window. Its decorations caught and reflected the light from the multi-colored LEDs strung around the tree and framing the window.

Bucky soon came down the stairs with an impressive stack of gifts. Clint and Darcy had already done all their wrapping, and he’d been finishing up. He set them around the tree, moving and rearranging until everything looked pretty, then came and lowered himself on Darcy’s other side

Lucky’s tail thumped against the couch. He licked Bucky’s hand when offered it to sniff before putting his head back down.

“I mean,” Bucky started as he put his arm around Darcy and pulled her close into his side. “You do like being in trouble.” Darcy wasn’t surprised he’d heard them, what with his whole enhanced hearing thing.

“Shut up,” she said good-naturedly as she snuggled into him.

They didn’t have to wait very long before Steven emerged from the kitchen, carefully carrying a large mug in both hands. He walked in with exaggerated care and handed it to Bucky. “Here you go, Daddy.”

“Thanks.” Bucky gave him a smile as he took the drink. Steven seemed to be waiting for something, so Bucky lifted it to his lips for a sip. “Yeah, it’s good.”

Steven beamed before taking off for the kitchen again. He was losing some of that baby fat, and it was getting to the point where you could tell who his biological father was without knowing that Clint had gotten snipped in his circus days. The jawline, the little cleft in his chin which wasn’t going anywhere as his face thinned down…

Steven didn’t care who his biological father was. He wasn’t the only kid in his class to have two dads and a mom, but he was the only one who had them all living together. He thought he was the luckiest boy alive. He was also the only kid with a dad over ninety, which was definitely a bragging point for him - much to Bucky’s chagrin.

“Is it really?” Darcy asked in a low tone.

“It’s a bit strong.” Bucky took another tentative sip and made a face. “Like Clint dumped in a bunch of whiskey to cut the sugar.”

Steven emerged from the kitchen again with a much smaller mug, followed this time by Clint. Steven set his Christmas puppy-themed mug on the coffee table, and Clint handed one of his mugs to Darcy before sitting on the arm of the couch by Lucky.

Steven took a drink and wiped off his hot chocolate mustache, his eyes darting between his parents. He kept looking at the tree and looking back at one of them.

“Go ahead,” Bucky said with a smile.

Steven set the mug down so suddenly that it spilled. He looked at Clint like he was making sure, then dashed into the kitchen for a paper towel to clean it up. After that was squared away and the paper towel disposed of, Steven went to the tree.

This was one of Darcy’s favorite things, watching Steven examine his presents. He’d pick them up, turn them this way and that, shake them. She took a sip of her hot chocolate and winced at the slightly medicinal flavor. “You trying to get me drunk?” she asked Clint.

“Doing you a favor, babe. You get in trouble so much more easily when you’ve been drinking.” He raised his mug to her in a salute.

She rolled her eyes. She was worried Steven would have something to say about that, but he was far too engrossed in the treasures under the tree. He got to open exactly one gift on Christmas Eve while they drank their hot chocolate.

Clint grabbed the remote from the end table beside him, and reached across Lucky to hand it to Darcy.

She put on Muppet Christmas Carol, because obviously. She was just handing the remote back to Clint when Steven emerged with an oddly-shaped package in his hands.

“This one doesn’t really shake,” he announced, though his eyes never left the shiny reindeer wrapping paper.

“Is that the one you want to open?” Darcy asked. She knew exactly what it was.

Steven hesitated, his eyes jumping from the package to the tree and back again. “Yeah.”

“Okay.”

Steven tore the paper off. His face lit up as soon as he realized what it was. “A bow! Wow! Thank you!”

Darcy had  _ finally _ given in on the whole bow thing. She knew Clint was basically the best archer ever, and he was really good at teaching people things, but she’d hesitated. Her baby handling a weapon?

Clint set his mug on the end table so he could shift from the couch to the floor. “I’ll teach you how to use it, buddy. There’s gonna have to be rules.”

Steven nodded a little too much. He took his new present to go sit on Clint’s crossed legs, his eyes on the screen and the bow clutched in his hands.

That was how he fell asleep halfway through the movie. Bucky got up to take him up to bed, Lucky close at their heels. He slept on the end of Steven’s bed, at least until Clint went up to sleep.

Clint shifted over to sit beside Darcy, and when Bucky came back, she was nestled between them.

“So.” Bucky’s hand rested on her thigh. “What’s this about you getting in trouble?”


End file.
